Lawyers are currently investigating antibiotic side effects, as a link between Levaquin, among other fluoroquinolone antibiotics, and aortic conditions is suspected.

Fluoroquinolone antibiotics are a family of common antibiotics that are used to treat a range of conditions, from respiratory infections to urinary tract infections. Antibiotic side effects include aortic tears and other problems. 

Currently, research suggests that taking fluoroquinolone antibiotics may increase a person’s risk of developing an aortic aneurysm and aortic dissection. Both of these possible antibiotic side effects can be life-threatening.

The aorta is the body’s main artery, passing over the left ventricle of the heart down the front of the backbone. An aortic aneurysm is a condition in which the walls of the aorta weaken, causing the wall of the aorta to bulge out in one location, possibly leading the bulge to burst.

The aorta has walls made up of multiple layers. In the case of an aortic dissection, the inner layer bursts, causing blood to surge between the layers, separating, or dissecting, them. This occurrence can then cause the blood-filled channel between the walls of the aorta to burst, causing serious internal bleeding, which is often fatal, as is the case in the event of an aortic aneurysm.

Allegedly, taking fluoroquinolones is associated with a doubled risk factor being hospitalized with an aortic aneurysm or aortic dissection. These findings were uncovered by the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD), who conducted a nested, case-controlled study of the relationship between the conditions and the antibiotic. This can cause serious internal bleeding, which is often fatal.

Allegedly, a notable risk for aortic conditions was suspected especially within sixty days of taking the antibiotic. However, an additional increased risk of aortic events was discovered among people who had taken the drugs two months to a year before having the cardiac event.

Scientists do note that no concrete cause and effect relationship has been established. Currently, the relationship between taking fluoroquinolones and experiencing the aortic events is most accurately described as a correlation.

Researchers at the National Taiwan University Hospital in Douliou, Taiwan gave a statement to JAMA Internal Medicine saying that though definitive data is not likely to be developed in the near future, medical professionals such as patient care providers should be “vigilant for the appearance of an aortic aneurysm and dissection in high-risk patients treated with fluoroquinolones.”

One of the most common fluoroquinolone antibiotics prescribed to patients is the name-brand drug Levaquin. Currently, lawyers are investigating the possible link between Levaquin and aortic aneurysm and aortic dissection. Around 15,000 people die in the U.S. each year from an aortic aneurysm. Other people experience aneurysms and survive, but suffer extreme injury as a result. In many cases, patients and their families do not know what caused the aneurysm.

If you or your loved one took the antibiotic Levaquin and then experienced an aortic aneurysm or aortic dissection, you may have a legal claim. Joining a Levaquin lawsuit investigation may help you recuperate compensation for injury done to you by Levaquin antibiotic side effects.